Quill-feeding device for automatic machines.



No. 894,556. PATENTED JULY 28, 1908.

W. WEBSTER. QUILL FEEDING DEVICE FOR AUTOMATIG MACHINES.

APPLICATION FILED OCT. 31, 1906.

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No. 894,556. PATENTED JULY 28 w. WEBSTER.

QUILL FEEDING DEVIGBFOR' AUTOMATIC MACHINES.

APPLIOATION FILED 001'. 21 1906. 3 BHEETS-SHEET 2.

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PATENTED JULY 28, 1908.

, W. WEBSTER. v QUILL FEEDING DEVICE FOR AUTOMATIC MACHINES.

APPLIOATION FILED OUT. 31, 1906.

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UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

WILLIAM WEBSTER, OF LONDON, ONTARIO, CANADA, ASSIGNOR, BY MESNE ASSIGNMENTS, TO THE WARREN FEATHERBONE COMPANY OF MICHIGAN, OF THREE OAKS, MICHIGAN,

A CORPORATION OF MICHIGAN.

QUILL-FEEDING DEVICE FOR AUTOMATIG MACHINES.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented July 28, 1908.

T all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, WILLIAM WEBsTER, a

at the city of London, Province of Ontario, Dominion of Canada, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Quill-Feeding Devices for Automatic Machines, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to improvements in quill feeding devices for automatic machines for the manufacture of cord from feather fiber.

The objects of this invention are to secure a regular feeding of quills into the machine and to enable the operator to readily replace a defective quill or to insert a quill at a proper point to insure the regular and even feeding.

This feeding device is an improvement on,

and an addition to, the feeding device of my automatic cord making machines, on which I now have patents ending the same being Serial No. 291,856, ed December 15, 1905, (issued November 20, 1906, No. 836,621) and Serial No. 232,757, filed November 11, 1904 (issued November 20, 1906, No. 836,420).

Objects relating to the details of the structure will appear in the detaileddescrip tion to follow.

I accomplish the objects of my invention by the devices and means described in the following specification.

1 The invention is clearly defined and pointed out in the claims.

A structure embod ing the features .of my invention is clearly ustrated in the accompanying drawing in which,-

Figure 1 is a detail plan view of the feed mechanism detached from the other portions of the machine. Fig. 2 is a detail sectional elevation view taken on a line corresponding to line 3-3 of Fig. 1, looking in the direction of the little arrows at the ends of the section lines. Fig. 3 is a sectional lan view taken on the line 3-3 of Fig. 2. ig. 4 is a detail sectional plan view taken on line 44 of Fig. 2, showing the feed rolls with their fiatted sides in proximity to indicate the manner in which the quills deliver into the same.

In the drawings the sectional views are taken looking in the direction of the little arrows at the ends of the section lines.

Similar numerals of reference refer to similar parts-throughout the several views.

Referring to the numbered parts of the drawings, the operative parts of my feed mechanism are supported on the base plate 1, which may be the top of the table of the cord making machine, or may be a special plate for supporting the feed device. On this plate 1 is su ported by suitable brackets a block 2 in whic are j ournaled the feed rolls and the rotating parts of the feed mechanism. An extension 3 is ofi at one side to form a small table for supporting upright pins 1818-18, between which a stack of quills is super osed. These quills are carr1ed downwar by gentle pressure from the compression device 19, having yielding fingers 19' which engage over the quills and are carried down yieldingly by the weight 28 arranged below the table 1 and secured to the rod 20. The points of the quills extend into a vertical way 14.

On the shaft 10 is sup orted a screw 17, the grooves between the t eads being of such size as to loosely and freely engage a single quill of the size which the machine is adapted to Work. The bottom thread of the screw 17 is provided with an abrupt projection 30 to de i ver quills with a quick movement when the flattened sides 16 of the feed rolls 15 come opposite each other.

The feed rolls 15, which are flatted at 1616 at fpoints diametrically opposite, are on the sha ts 9 and 10, that on shaft 10 being beneath the screw 17. The position in I which they receive a quill is indicated in ,Fig. 4. As the quills escend through the screw to the bottom, they are delivered down with a quick movement, owing to the projection 30, into the open space formed by the flatted portion 16, and as the rolls 15 continue to revolve the corrugated sides come into proximity with each other and gras successively the uills one at a time and a Vance them unt' the fiatted sides 16 again come in proximity to each other, and another quill is promptly delivered down, so that the quills are delivered in exactly the right overlapping position. v

The quills are sorted to sizes for feeding into the machine, either byhand or by a suitable sorting machine. Quills are first stripped of their plumage, as is the usual practice with these machines.

The quills are deliveredby the feed rolls 15 forward between an additional pair of feed rolls 11-11, which grasps the same as they are advanced and delivers them against the splitting knife 13, and they then are deflected sidewise by the knife and grasped by the adjustable feed rolls 12-12, which co-act with the members of the pair of feed rolls 1111 and deliver the quill to the pithing and fibering machine.

My invention does not relate to the splitting means, but merely to the mechanism which delivers the quills. All of this mechanism is actuated from a shaft 4 supported in suitable bearings 5, which shaft is provided with a screw 21 engaging a screw gear 22 which drives the vertical shaft 7 on which one of the feed rolls 11 is mounted. Gears 23 are provided on the shaft 7 which engage the gear 24 which drives the vertical shaft 8, which gear'24 engages the idle gear 25, which is meshed with gear 26 on the vertical shaft 9, and the gear 26 engages the gear 27 on the vertical shaft 10, and by these shafts 9 and 10 the feed rolls l515 and the feed screw 17 are actuated.

I have thus described the various parts of my im roved feeding device, and its operation W' 1 be understood from a consideration of the drawings. Stacks of quills are piled above the feed screw 17 between the posts or pins 18. The weighted feed fingers engage the same by merely raising them to the top of the stack of quills. As the screw revolves it engages the quills one by one successively, and carries them down to the feed rolls 15, where they are fed in promptly when the flatted sides 16 come opposite to each other. Each revolution delivers a quill. This of course would be the case where the screw has a single thread. By increasing the number of threads on the screws the number of quills delivered at a rotation could be correspondingly increased, but it is not deemed neces sary to illustrate such feature.

The quills, as they are held by the screw 17, can be readily inspected and if one is found to be defective it can be removed and a good quill inserted. If for any reason a vacancy occurs at any thread of the screw a quill can be inserted, and as the screw feeds the quills positively at each rotation their even grasping by the feed rolls 15 is insured, and an even supply of fiber is thus also secured, owing to the fact that quills of an even size are put into the machine. This even distribution of fiber for the cord is of importance.

It is desired to remark that the quills might be inserted into the screw without providing the means for stacking the same above the screw, but this method is found to be the most satisfactory, as it only requires the operator to keep watch of the machine to be sure that all of the grooves of the screw are filled with the quills, and by this means one operator is able to attend to a number of machines, whereas if the operator were cal shaft 7 driven by said obliged to insert the quills by hand between each screw thread an operator could attend to but a single machine.

Having thus described my improved quill feeding mechanism, what I desire to claim and secure by U. S. Letters Patent, is,-

1. The combination of a base plate 1; a table 2 supported above the same, with a lateral extension 3; a driving shaft 4 supported on suitable bearings 5 and provided with a screw 21 engaging the screw gear 22; a vertigear 22 and carrying suitable gear 23; a shaft 8; a pair of feed rolls 11 on said shafts 7 and 8; vertical shafts 9 and 10 with feed rolls 1515, with llatted sides 16, and a screw 17 supported on one of said shafts; gears 24, 25, 26 and 27 for driving said shafts 8, 9 and 10 from the shaft 7; vertical supports 181818 for supporting the quills; a vertical trough-shaped guide 14. for embracing the points of the quills, having its front wall cut away at the bottom for the passage of uills; and a compression device 19 with yie ding fingers 19 with a suitable downwardly depending rod 20 with a weight 28 at the bottom for urging the quills normally downward, co-acting for the purpose specified.

2. In a quill feeding device, the combination of a pair of feed rolls with flattened sides for embracing the quills; a screw, arranged axially above one of said feed rolls, the threads of which are of proper dimension for embracing single quills; projections on the bottom screw thread opposite the flattened feed rolls for advancing the quills quickly between the rolls; means for supporting a stack of superposed quills in line above said feed screw; and a guide to embrace the points of the quills to deliver them evenly between the rolls, co-acting for the purpose specified.

3. In a quill feeding device, the combination of a pair of feed rolls with flattened sides for embracing the quills; a screw, arranged axially above one of said feed rolls, the threads of which are of proper dimension for embracing single quills; means for supporting a stack of superposed quills in line above said feed screw; and a guide to embrace the points of the quills to deliver them. evenly between the rolls, co-acting for the purpose specified.

4. I11 a quill feeding device, the combination of a pair of feed rolls with flattened sides for embracing the quills; a screw, arranged axially above one of said feed rolls, the threads of which are of proper dimension for embracing single quills; and a projection on the bottom screw thread opposite the flattened feed rolls for advancing the quills quickly between the rolls, eo-acting for the purpose specified.

5. In a quill feeding device, the combination of a pair of feed rolls with flattened sides for embracing the quills; a screw, arranged axially above one of said feed rolls, the threads of which are of proper dimension for embracing single uills; and a guide to em brace the points oi the uills to deliver them evenly between the rol s, co-acting for the purpose specified.

6. In a quill feeding device, the combina tion of a pair of feed rolls with flattened sides 10 for embracing the quills; and a screw, ar-

ranged axially above one of said feed rolls, the threads of which are of proper dimension for embracin single quills, co-acting for the purpose speci%ed.

7. In a quill feeding device, the combina co-acting for the pur ose specified.

In Witness Whereo I have hereunto set my hand and seal in the presence of two witnesses.

WILLIAM WEBSTER. L. 8.

Witnesses:

R. G. FISHER, D. CONSTABLE. 

